


Hotshot

by vanderlindeandco



Category: Gears of War (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, baird is my favorite asshole, baird x reader, if marcus fenix wearing a bandana is my sexuality then fuck I guess baird wearing goggles is too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:13:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26681194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanderlindeandco/pseuds/vanderlindeandco
Summary: Request from @fortheloveofgeek: Could you write something for Baird? You get shot in battle and almost die and he tells you how much he loves you and can't live without you. Thank you love!
Relationships: Damon Baird/ reader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11





	Hotshot

It wasn’t the first time I’d been shot, but this one seemed bad. I’d popped out of cover to cross the street after the rest of my squad, and since a lot of time the grubs’ aim wasn’t so good, I thought I’d be fine if I was quick. Well, I’d gotten in a few shots as I went and taken down one of them, and I was almost into cover when I felt something like a punch to the stomach. I stumbled, unsteady, and ducked, crouching next to Marcus as I reloaded my lancer. I looked down, cursing under my breath when I saw the blood trickling through the hole in my armor. It didn’t hurt much yet, but I knew well that that didn’t say much about the severity of the wound. 

“You all right?” Marcus asked, and rose, firing a few shots over the hood of the car we were sheltering behind before ducking again as return fire cracked in response. 

“Not sure.” My armor had taken a beating; the recon mission we were on was a whole lot worse than we’d projected, and I wasn’t real surprised that the fairly close-range shot had pierced the battered plates. If anything, I was pissed at myself that I hadn’t recognized what poor shape the armor was in and done something about it.

“You hit?” I was surprised to hear the concern in Baird’s voice, and I looked up at him, skeptical.

“I thought I heard you joking about offing me last week after I ate your snacks?”

He scowled at me, but he didn’t talk back, and that worried me more than the hot trickles I suddenly became aware of, tracing down my stomach from the wound. “Baird, take a look at her.” Marcus’s voice was as gruff and decisive as ever, the ever-present lines etched deep into his forehead as he sighted over the hood of the car and took a few more shots. 

Baird stayed low as he approached me, and I began to unbuckle my armor. It felt weird doing it out in the open like this, especially in combat. I felt naked as soon as the heavy plates fell away, but that left my mind when I saw the wound under them; it was bleeding heavily, and it had started to throb, the bloodstain on my shirt steadily growing. My head felt light suddenly and I sat back, leaning against the car. Baird’s fingers were quick and agile, catching the hem of my shirt and pulling it up, and I chuckled. “At least take me on a date first, hotshot,” I said, and the words felt heavy on my tongue.

“Shut up,” he said, but without any malice; his gaze was on the wound, and he looked up at Marcus. “It’s not good, Sarge. I don’t know what to do to stop the bleeding.” He spoke with urgency and what sounded like fear, but I felt none of it - I was well aware I was going into shock; I felt strangely disconnected from my body but it was helping keep me calm, so I didn’t particularly mind. I was growing sleepy already, and my core felt warm, but my fingers and toes were suddenly cold.

“Dom and I will keep the grubs busy,” Marcus said, and fired another short burst of shots before falling back into cover. “Fall back and get her the fuck out of here. Backup’s on the way.”

I wanted to protest, but it seemed like too much work, and when Baird slipped an arm under my knees and another around my back, I didn’t try to stop him. He rose, lifting me, and I knew we were exposed, but Marcus’s lancer chattered and I bounced in Baird’s arms, his boots stamping the pavement as he ran back toward a side street. “Ow,” I murmured; the wound was really coming to life now, the pain radiating in waves from it, and each jolt sparked it hotter.

“Fuck,” Baird muttered, and then again, louder and more fervently, “Fuck!” “What?” I looked up at him. The sky above us was bright blue, far too beautiful and calm for what was going on. 

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” He pounded down the street, and he was breathing hard, panting out the words. He wasn’t looking at me and it was almost like he was talking to himself. “I didn’t think I’d run out of time.”

I grimaced and blinked, my eyes opening slowly. It was growing difficult to focus them now. “What for?”

“Fuck…” he expelled the word with a lungful of air. “I… Shit!” He looked down at me, his gaze moving from my face to the wound and I could see him swallow, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He looked back over his shoulder, and then turned through the door into a dilapidated building. He eased me down, propping me against the wall, and reached for his radio. “I’m about to send my coordinates. Need med-evac here, now! Where the fuck are you guys?”

A crackly voice came through in response and I couldn’t quite make out the words, but I did hear Baird’s impassioned response: “Well, fuckin’ hurry it up!” He stowed his radio and crouched next to me, pressing his large hands over the wound, and I gasped in pain.

“Shit, sorry,” he muttered.

I was getting real tired, and my thoughts were moving slowly but I remembered there was something I needed to ask him, something pricking my mind, and then I suddenly remembered what he had been saying. “What… did you need time for?”

He looked up at me then, and suddenly his blue eyes seemed blinding, filled with a sincerity I had never seen from him. He wetted his lips and cleared his throat, and his face twisted with what I could only describe as grief. “I… Fuck it. Look.” He hesitated, and then shook his head, meeting my eyes again. “I fucking love you. I’ve known it, and I didn’t want to say it, didn’t know how or if I should, and I thought the moment would present itself if it was supposed to, but it never did and now you’re fucking bleeding out here.” 

My thoughts were moving at the speed of dripping honey, and I felt like the words were just sitting on the surface of my brain, not sinking in. I was just looking at him, and he was looking back, desperation in his eyes, and I blinked, my brain feeling like it had been replaced with cement and my eyelids with lead. “Say something, please.” I blinked again and this time I couldn’t seem to get my eyes to open. “Hey!” Warm, blood-wet fingers cupped my cheek, and the last thing I heard was his voice, urgent and afraid. “Don’t fucking leave me-”

*****

When I woke, my head felt heavy, and my stomach suspiciously painless. I didn’t open my eyes immediately, and wiggled my toes, feeling soft sheets against them. I heard the sound of a steady drip nearby, and footsteps a little farther away. Then I opened my eyes, and instantly recognized the tiled white ceiling overhead - it was the med-wing of the base. Somehow, apparently, Baird had gotten me out.

Baird. His name crossing my mind jolted me. Baird, who loved me. I felt my heart rate shoot up with the thought, and my cheeks felt warm. Even though I had gotten pretty hazy near the end, I could remember his face and his words so clearly. He had meant them.

“You’re awake!” The nurse’s words broke me from my deepening train of thought. “How’re you doing?” His eyes went from the monitor next to my bed and then back to me as I responded.

“I feel fine,” I said. “I’m guessing I’m pretty dosed up?”

He smiled sympathetically. “Yeah. Gut wounds hurt a hell of a lot otherwise.”

I nodded. “So you think I’m gonna make it through?”

“Yeah,” he said. “The bullet just missed your intestines. It did some damage, and you lost a lot of blood, but you should be fine. Doc got you patched up last night.”

“Nice.” I was no stranger to the med-wing, but I was a little disappointed - this meant I had broken my streak of never staying overnight. Still, I was alive, and I was going to be all right, so I didn’t really have anything to complain about. 

“Your friend wanted me to let you know when you woke up. Should I notify him?”

The sudden over-dramatic picture of a concerned and bloodied Baird getting left behind as they wheeled me into the operating room filled my head, and I nodded, asking, though I thought I already knew the answer, “What friend?”

“Corporal Santiago,” the nurse said, and my heart sank slightly.

“Oh,” I said. “Yeah. It’d be good to see him.”

“All right, then,” he said. “You’re gonna be here a couple days, just so you know. This is a pretty serious wound, and we gotta make sure it heals up right. I’m Theo, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Theo,” I said. “I can’t make any promises that I won’t complain, but if I gotta stay, I’ll stay.”

“That’s all I ask,” he said with a smile. “I’ll notify Corporal Santiago.”

“Thanks.”

I had expected the fog lingering in my brain to have dissipated by the time Dom arrived, but it hadn’t, and I supposed it was most likely because the pain medicine I was on was even heavier than I’d thought. “Hey!” He greeted me with one of his signature grins, the ones that made you feel like you were his favorite person. “How’re you feeling?”

“Drugged,” I said, and he laughed. I scooted over a little, patting the edge of the bed, and he sat down. “How’d the rest of the op go?”

“Backup got there pretty fast after Baird got away with you, and we got out okay.”

“Where is Baird?” I had tried to ask nonchalantly, but apparently, I hadn’t quite succeeded - something suspicious and a little mischievous lit in Dom’s dark eyes.

“He tell you something?” he asked.

“Did he tell you he did?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I knew he was into you, though he never said anything. And it seems like you have some idea of that now.”

Dom was one of the very few people I trusted entirely, and who I knew could keep his mouth shut if I asked him to. “He said he loves me.”

At that, Dom’s brows shot up. “Really? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that word come out of his mouth, except in mockery.”

“Me neither,” I said, and added, only half-joking, “When he said that, that’s when I really got scared I was gonna die.”

“He must’ve thought you were,” Dom said. “I think he’s been sitting on it awhile though.”

“Really?” I asked. “I thought I was kinda just one of the guys to him.” It was true; I was the only female on the squad, and I thought they’d gotten used to it as quickly as I had.

“Well, I’ve never seen him staring at Marcus’s ass,” Dom said with a smirk, and then added, “And did you ever notice how everyone’s equipment seems to malfunction more than yours?”

“I guess I hadn’t.” But now that I thought about it, it was true. I’d never understood why everyone bitched about Baird’s contraptions. But if it was because Baird put more work into mine - work intended to keep me safe - it made sense.

“He doesn’t show affection in the ways normal humans do,” Dom said. 

“Yeah, well, he’s a pretty twisted guy,” I said, and Dom laughed, knowing I was mostly joking. “Speaking of which, shouldn’t he be here?”

“He’s probably scared to come,” Dom said. “You didn’t answer him, did you?”

“I… No.” Dom said it without judgement but I felt guilty suddenly, even though the fact that I had been dying was a damn good reason not to have answered.

“Well, you’d better,” Dom said. “He’s been on edge ever since we got back, and I thought it was just because of what happened to you. I didn’t know he was waiting on that.”

“Yeah…” I said. “That must suck. Any chance I could get you to bring him here?”

“Of course,” he said, standing. “You, uh… Need anything?”

My eyes narrowed slightly. I could tell he was hinting at something, and the infinitesimally tiny movement of his eyes toward my hair, which I realized was now probably a massive mess, gave it away. “If he loves me when I’m dying in his arms, he’ll still love me when I look like shit,” I said. 

Dom chuckled. “Fair enough. Just thought I’d ask.”

“Thanks, Dom,” I said.

“‘Course. Glad you’re okay. Everyone’ll be glad to know you’re awake.”

I’d felt pretty calm while we were talking, but as soon as the ward door closed behind him, I could feel my heart speeding up again. I’d had a crush on Baird for a long time, though I’d put it in the back of my head since I didn’t think he felt the same way, and apparently I’d done such a good job concealing it, he’d never tried to make a move even though he was into me. I didn’t need to be scared or even nervous - I knew how we both felt. Yet putting my feelings out there like that - that intimidated me more than any horde did. 

The minutes ticked by, and finally I heard footsteps outside the door, more than one pair. The doors opened and Baird popped through, stumbling as if he had been pushed (he probably had been, by Dom), and regaining his balance as the doors closed behind him. He pasted a smirk onto his face, but not quick enough; I saw the vulnerability and nervousness for just a moment first. “You look like shit,” he said.

“I don’t feel like it.”

“Well, that’s good.” His steps were just a little slow as he crossed the room toward me and stopped next to the bed. “I think you owe me some gratitude,” he said, and some of the trademark edge was returning to his voice. It made me less nervous to see him acting a little more like himself.

“I do,” I said. “Thank you. I wouldn’t have made it out of there if it hadn’t been for you.”

“Yeah, I think you were out before I even got you indoors,” he said, but I was sharp enough to see what he was trying to do - he was testing me, and we both knew it.

“No, I wasn’t,” I said, and fear flashed through his blue eyes before he rapidly concealed it. I swallowed. “You said you loved me.” Instantly his lips opened to protest, but he’d only gotten out half a word when I cut him off. “Shut up and let me talk for a second.” Apparently taken aback, he obeyed, his mouth still hanging open slightly. “I like you too, okay? I’m not sure I’m ready to say I love you. I need some time. But I wanna give it a shot.” I hadn’t prepared what I was going to say, but it was coming out okay, to my surprise, and by the rapid change of the emotions on his face from fear to reticence to hesitant happiness, and back to his usual confidence, I judged he thought I was doing all right too.

“You know I was exaggerating a little ‘cause I thought you were dying, right?” he said. “I mean, I don’t really, like _love_ love you. As a friend, sure. But yeah, if you’re into me, we can try going out.”

I laughed. “If I’m into you?” I repeated. “You’re gonna convince yourself I came onto you first, aren’t you?” 

“Convince myself?” he asked. “What’re you talking about? You’re the one that got me in here to tell me how in love with me you are.”

“Man, I’m the one on drugs and I’m talking more sense than you are,” I said. “Anyway, if the record books in your little Baird-centered world say I came onto you first, it’s whatever. Dom knows the true story, and we both know he’s gonna believe me over you.”

His confidence cracked for a moment, and a bit of a pout crossed his face. “You all ride me for not having feelings, and this is what I get for showing them? You might be more trouble than you’re worth.”

I smiled up at him. “We both know I’m not.”

He looked at me for a long moment, and I knew his frown was fake. “Fine,” he said finally. “Whatever.”

“Don’t whatever me, jackass,” I said, but the words held no real bite; I could feel my smile growing. “You were the one telling me how desperately you love me, you need me-” I was exaggerating; I was trying to push his buttons, and I knew I was good at it.

“For fuck’s sake, can you hush about that?” he interrupted me, casting a self-conscious glance over his shoulder, but I continued.

“-you don’t know how to live without me, your soul belongs to me-”

“Fuck it!” He stepped closer to the bed, leaned down, steadying himself with a hand on the mattress, and kissed me, and the words died in my throat as his hand cupped my cheek, just like before, but his touch was gentle rather than desperate, and his lips were soft and passionate. I was breathless when he pulled away, starstruck and giddy.

“If I knew it was this easy to get you to shut up, I would have asked you out a long time ago,” he said, but he was smiling now, and it was a real smile, and I think it was just as big as my own.

“Better late than never.” My heart was still racing, and I felt almost lightheaded again, but in a good way. 

“Look, I got some work I gotta get done,” he said, and I could hear the hesitance in his voice. I’d done enough to knock his pride down a couple notches, so instead of making him say it, I asked,

“You’ll come back later?”

“Sure, if I got time,” he said coolly.

I smirked. “You’ll make time.”

“We’ll see.” I could see a grin spread across his face as he turned to leave - I think he’d tried to hide it until his back was to me, but he hadn’t quite succeeded. My head was heavy but my heart was light, and as the door closed behind him, I settled back into the pillows, pleasant sleepiness filling my mind. I hadn’t the slightest idea where things might go with him. But I was excited to see.


End file.
